FIENDISHLY

FIENDISLY

OTHER

OTHER

RECIPE BY SHORTCUTS

lemon butter cake

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As soon as he got home, he went to the larder; and he stood on a chair, and took down a very large jar of honey from the top shelf. It had HUNNY written on it, but, just to make sure, he took off the paper cover and looked at it, and it looked just like honey. "But you never can tell," said Pooh. "I remember my uncle saying once that he had seen cheese just this colour." So he put his tongue in, and took a large lick. "Yes," he said, "it is. No doubt about that. And honey, I should say, right down to the bottom of the jar. Unless, of course," he said, "somebody put cheese in at the bottom just for a joke. Perhaps I had better go a little further . . . just in case . . . in case Heffalumps don't like cheese . . . same as me. . . . Ah!" And he gave a deep sigh. "I was right. It is honey, right the way down." A A Milne

The Weather Man has a thing about glace cherries. He’s like Winnie the Pooh with a tub of those sickly things – has to check if it’s cherries all the way down…

But who am I to throw a stone? Condensed milk does the same for me. Worse so, as you could not remotely say it’s one of your five-a-day, plus you can pick glace cherries out of a pot daintily, while a once-licked spoon going back into the tin is shameful and unhygienic.

Well. The whole tub is a goner in that case.

That’s why I love this recipe: it calls for 125g sticky stuff which is about two thirds of a tin. And what with the remaining milk, you don’t want to waste it, do you?

METHOD

1. Prepare a Bundt or a loaf tin by buttering and flouring it, or lining with parchment.

2. Place the egg whites in one large bowl and the yolks in another. Beat the egg whites with a balloon whisk attachment to an electric or standing mixer until foamy. Keep beating and add 25g of the caster sugar, little by little, and continue until you get a soft meringue.

3. Add the remaining 125g of sugar to the egg yolks and beat together, adding the melted butter, the condensed milk, lemon juice and zest, until you get a smooth mix. Now sift in the flour together with the baking powder and beat in well. Add the egg whites and fold them in gently.

4. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Spoon the cake mix into the prepared tin and bake for 40-50 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out dry. Cool in the tin for about half an hour, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

5. To make the icing, mix the zest with the lemon juice and add to the icing sugar. Beat with a hand whisk until smooth and runny. Drizzle or pour over the cake.